Chapter 337: Losses

Ever since purchasing the Azure Sun Trade Association's stocks, Luo Binghong had gotten hooked on going to the trading center every day to check the stock price.

Every time the price increased, she would receive a dopamine rush and calculate how much additional profit she had earned. Every time the price fell, she would feel the weight of the world on her shoulders, and her elation would quickly turn into depression.

However, the overall trend was very much going in an upward trajectory, and she had had many sleepless nights, too amped up with excitement as she envisioned the stock price rising to ten, twenty, even fifty taels of silver a share.

I have to contact the pope and secure more funds! We should sell off all of our business and land in the Yong Province so we can invest in the stock market!

She had heard some rumors about some blueprints being leaked, but she didn't take them to heart.

Today, she visited the trading center as she always did to check on the stock price, and as usual, the crowd buzzed with excitement. However, the latest stock price update was like a bucket of cold water poured onto everyone's heads.

"Five taels and nine qian? Why has it fallen?"

"It's alright, I'm sure this is just a minor adjustment."

In the next update, however, the price fell even more, becoming five taels and eight qian.

"Why is it still falling? Is there a mistake here or something?"

"It's five taels and five qian now!"

"Someone's fallen unconscious! Call a doctor!"

All of a sudden, the joyous atmosphere turned into one of despair and panic.

Luo Binghong stood dumbfounded on the street, staring in shock at the falling stock price.

She hurriedly ran over to Chu Qiguang to report the bad news. "Teacher! The stock price has fallen to five taels!"

She began referring to Chu Qiguang as teacher out of admiration for his stock trading expertise.

"It's alright, there's no need to be alarmed," Chu Qiguang said, consoling her. "Countless people have made investments into the two trade associations, so if the stock price keeps falling like this, there's going to be massive unrest.

"To avoid that, the imperial court is definitely going to step in to save the market. Just hold onto your stocks and weather the storm."

Luo Binghong felt very much reassured, and she relayed the message to all of the disgruntled generals and followers. "Listen to me, everyone! The imperial court is going to step in to save the market!"

However, the stock price only continued to collapse. Trading was also temporarily put on pause, so people couldn't even sell off their stocks.

"How could this be?" Chen Qingyong murmured to himself in a distraught manner. "The price has gone down from six taels to two, which means our investment of 190,000 has been reduced to less than seventy thousand!"

"What's a board meeting? What does this all mean?" another general asked. "This money was reserved for purchasing pills for the pope and the holy maiden, but we've lost almost all of it! What do we do?"

Luo Binghong was also beginning to panic, but she forced herself to remain composed and said, "It'll be alright. My teacher says that the imperial court will save us."

Eager for answers, the group promptly departed to go see Chu Qiguang.

Meanwhile, Yi Siman and several wolf fiend martial artists were also looking at the rapidly falling stock price with concerned expressions.

"What's the meaning of this?! Why is the stock price suddenly falling?" one of the wolf fiends yelled. "We need that money to buy food and supplies! What do we do now?"

"Yi Siman, you're the one who convinced us to invest in stocks! How are we going to answer to your father now?"

Meanwhile, Luo Binghong had arrived at Chu Qiguang's rented courtyard with five generals of the Imperial Heavenly Dao, only to discover that the courtyard had already been vacated.

A terrible premonition immediately took root in their hearts, and all of the generals turned to look at Luo Binghong with accusatory expressions.

"Luo Binghong! You were working with those bastards to scam us, weren't you?"

"You convinced us to invest in stocks, and we've now made massive losses! You need to answer to the pope!"

***

Meanwhile, Chu Qiguang was making preparations for the board meeting. Wang Cailiang was busy preparing the picture scrolls that would be used for Chu Qiguang's presentation, while Yang Ling was busy dealing with disgruntled shareholders.

At the same time, a mysterious machine was also transported to the meeting venue, and it was quickly being assembled by a team of workers. It was one of the recently developed spinning mules, and due to the lack of flowing water in the venue, it was going to be powered by horses instead for the demonstration.

***

Inside the Wu Residence, Wu Wei smashed a vase into the ground, then split a desk into two with a furious swat. Over the past two days, he had incurred hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in losses, and he looked ready to murder someone.

He turned to Sun Bin with a furious glare and asked, "What do you think Zhong Shan'e wants to discuss with the Cloud Midst Trade Association and us? Right now, everyone's saying that the imperial court is going to save the market; do you think that's going to happen?"

Sun Bin took a glance at the servants in the room, and Wu Wei immediately dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

Before long, Wu Wei and Sun Bin were the only ones left in the room, and only then did the latter reply, "We can already thank our lucky stars if the imperial court doesn't take advantage of the situation for their own benefit; there's no way they would be willing to provide funds to save the market.

"I think Zhong Shan'e is worried that the state of the stock market is going to cause turmoil in the Spirit Province and interfere with the action that he wants to take against the nine border military bases. That's why he ordered us to temporarily put trading on pause. It's a stalling tactic.

"If we don't do anything, then once trade resumes, the stock price will likely immediately plummet to zero. Right now, the only solution available to us is to link up all of the major shareholders and think of a way to raise the stock price, then sell off our stocks while the price is relatively high.

"In order to accomplish that, we have to ensure that all of the major shareholders are on our side. As long as all of us form a united front, Zhong Shan'e will be powerless to oppose us on his own."

Wu Wei nodded in agreement with this idea, and he personally visited all of the major shareholders.

***

As the date of the board meeting drew closer, the calls for the imperial court to save the market also reached a crescendo.

Every single day, Zhong Shan'e was receiving countless visitors, and everyone was hoping to secure some insider information from him.

As the focal point of the storm, Azure Sun County was receiving a massive influx of visitors, and all of the inns and relay stations were packed to the rafters.

The workshop where the board meeting was going to be held had already been taken over by Demon Vanquishing Department personnel, and no one knew what they were preparing.

Finally, the day of the board meeting arrived, and all of the major shareholders were welcomed into the workshop.

Wu Wei and Sun Bin were naturally among them, and upon their arrival, they exchanged some subtle glances and nods with all of the other major shareholders who were on board with their plan.